LoveLESS
by blackjackkat
Summary: Ten years have passed since the digital world and the real world have become entangled. In this new environment lives the hacker LoveLESS who lives to cause chaos. When she is tracked by something calling itself Neo2930 she goes from angry, to frightened, to curious. Little does she know her curiosity of Neo will led excitement and adventure she's never imagined. feat: Neodevimon
1. honey-eyed hacker, golden masked digimon

●**Love**LESS.○ - chapter 1 – The honey-eyed hacker, the golden masked virus

**SUMMARY** :: Ten years have passed since the digital world and the real world have become entangled. In this new environment lives the hacker LoveLESS who lives to cause chaos. When she is tracked by something calling itself Neo2930 she goes from angry, to frightened, to curious. Little does she know her curiosity of Neo will led excitement and adventure she's never imagined.

* * *

An indecipherable code cascaded down her vision as her fingers ran fluidly over the tablet screen. She was winning. The slow but steady flow of Adrenalin began as her victory came closer and she let a small smile curve her lips. "Got it..." the girl breathed. Writing followed the victorious coding :

**CODING ACCEPTED** ::

TRANSFER OF FUNDS FROM ACCOUNT -9332 TO -3661 COMPLETE.

ACOUNT BALANCE -9332 : $ 00.00

ACOUNT BALANCE -3361 : 1,542,193

Teeth showed through the curve her her lip and she added the last insult to insure her notoriety rose along with her bank account. Fingers flitted across the screen and encoded an endearment;

Your donation of funds is greatly appropriated

- ●**Love**LESS.○

Reaching up the girl loosened the visor that covered her eyes and placed the plastic and glass contraption on the table before her along with the tablet computer. Letting a satisfied sigh escape her lips she allowed herself to ease back into the soft leather couch and relax. Stretching her neck, she double checked the tablet's screen to make sure it was doing it's job; running her encryption program to hide her tracks. Not that anyone could even backtrack to her. They couldn't even stop her.

Lazily LoveLESS ran her hands through her strawberry blonde locks, fluffy the thick locks that had been flattened during her fun. The girl's, or rather young woman's, innocent, angel kissed freckled face, and honey eyes belittled the havoc she'd reaped in the recent months. Her appearance and diminutive stature led her to appear younger then she was, it always had. Her hormones began to settle and the rush left her.

It never lasted long enough. The money was nice, she couldn't deny it, it enabled her to focus on the digital side of life and improve her skills, but it's not why she did it. Some people drove fast, some people did drugs, some people based jumped; she hacked, but all did it for the rush. LoveLESS grabbed a large pillow and arranged herself on her side. She pulled her tablet over, minimized her running program, and quickly brought up the news and it picked up in the middle of a broadcast.

" -Representatives from the UN today announced dates for meeting with representatives from the digital world. Vaccine and Data digimon are being represented but as far there is no announcement from the Virus digimon that any such representative will be present. Tension with the Demon Lords as the digimon like to be addressed, humans, and other digimon types remains strained. "

In the last decade the revelation of the digital world and it's digital but all too real inhabitants had become known and rocked the world. They had pushed the real world on a rapid tumultuous river ride toward the future and the revelation of the importance of the digital life. Despite her active digital life, LoveLESS had no digimon partner and she was proud of it. She did what she did with her own skill and did not need to rely on a partner on the other end to do what she did. Even though she could not deny that her lack of a partner may even help her in her efforts. Any hacking was almost always linked to a virus digimon now a days and to their human partner. The connection between the two by the use of a digivice, something every digimon produced and presented to their human upon meeting and bonding, almost always led to their discovery and down fall.

Rumor was that human hackers, as well as other law breakers, abounded in the digital world as they ran from the real world law. One reason the UN was so eager to meet with digital representatives was to develop some sort of extradition laws between the two worlds lest the digital world become a haven for the Earth's criminals. Without the other world connection LoveLESS was well below the radar and even when she was above it little to no time was spent tracking her. Other hackers were far easier to catch or at least to protect against. What was one honey eyed girl to dozens or hundreds of eager and stupid hackers that flooded the system.

"Where is he...?" LoveLESS murmured to herself. The last three times she had gotten on and hacked a system she'd attracted the attention of someone or something. A something that had done what no one had ever done to her, backtracked her movements. The fact that it had tracked back to her and high-jacked her screen to converse with first enraged her, then frightened her, and finally peaked her curiosity. The thought that her mysterious follower was a digimon had crossed her mind and it did not make her as angry as she thought it was. No, rather then angry she could confidently say it poked and prodded at her curiosity. Why were they bothering with her? The fact that they never gave her away, never pointed the law in her direction told her they were as curious about her as she was of them. The handle she was attempting to hide her eagerness of seeing was Neo2930. Each encounter left her scrambling to track the typer and disable them; to turn the table. Her pride demanded it.

As she absent mindlessly twisted her thick curly locks in between her fingers she heard her computer give that distinctive noise. Bah-Ding! Eagerly she sat up at the edge of the couch and slide the tablet into her lap. The screen went black, only a blinking white cursor present on the screen. Then text began to appear.

**Neo2930** : Found you again.

A smile pulled at the corners of her mouth again and she felt a rush of excitement. "You're mind now..." came a wispy declaration as she slid on her visor.

–

Eagerly from behind his mask he watched as she skillfully weaved her coding, disabling the security and funneling funds to one of several accounts he noticed she had. LoveLESS, she was so distinctive with her maneuvering he did not even need her to identify herself to know it was her going to work. Although only recently reaching out to the hacker, he had watched her for sometimes. She slipped in and out of bank accounts and glided into secure government files. At first he was convinced there was some digimon connected with her, no human could do the things that she could do in the digital spaces that connected the two worlds like she did. Given his predicament he did not like humans, didn't hate them but didn't think much off them, but he had to concede that her skills impressed him. The corner of his mouth twitched upward into a grin at her cheeky note typed its way across the screen.

Your donation of funds is greatly appropriated

- ●**Love**LESS.○

The digimon reclined back on his heels and ran a golden clawed hand through his white hair, a nervous gesture he often found himself repeating when he first debating making contact. He sat in a bare white digital prison, only the flicker of screens he produced to watch for LoveLESS's and others movements keeping him company. He could hack other systems, hack other humans, but he could not free himself for this lingering purgatory-like realm, the area between the two worlds. A dead space used for transmit humans, digimon, and data; not a place one would ever willing choose to stay.

Sliding back off his heels he sat flat with his over arching thin wings folded neatly against his back. He drew his long legs to his chest and draped an elongated arm around them, the other still running through his hair, still considering. If he continued to contact the hacker without following through with his plan the chances ever increased she would finally snag him. No path he used to get to her was the same but he knew with her skill she was already forming patterns and working out his system.

He needed her. That was the fact that had begun to solidify in his mind the more he learned of her. This hacker was possibly the only one with the skill not only to free him but to not alarm his keepers as she did so, thus insuring his escape. He had been waiting for her to maneuver again, to get another chance to get in contact with her in hopes of not only securing his escape, but simply for the interaction. He wondered if LoveLESS was waiting as well. The digimon sucked in a sharp breath and released it. "Now.. or not at all..." he told himself as he began spreading his virus along her trail, tracking her back to starting point. A sense of satisfaction came over him as he once again took control of her device.

**Neo2930** : Found you again.

**LoveLESS** : You kept me waiting.

Again the twitch of a grin played on his face. Still cheeky and already working the messages back to him. He paused, once again considering all he was intending to do, and typed.

**Neo2930** : It's time we meet face to face.

This time she paused. Or at least he thought it was a "she" that's how the digimon always referred to LoveLESS, as a female. It never really occurred to him that the hacker could be a male. Finally a response.

**LoveLESS** : No dice.

**Neo2930** : This isn't an optional invitation.

–

LoveLESS could take care of her self at a distance usually, except with this Neo it seemed. Close up, less certain. She was not in any way physically intimidating. The thought crossed her mind again that this might be a digimon and the forceful invitation made her feel a pin prick of dread. How would they meet? Was he watching her? She steeled her self and continued to work her coding, searching for a way back to the source trying as best she could to ignore the ominous statement.

"Almost-" there was no breath left in her lungs to finish her statement as it felt as though the remaining air had be forced from her. Shooting straight from her tablet screen emerged a golden clawed hand. Faster than she could even register to move it grasp around her and she felt her self pulled though the screen. A sensation of moving fast, falling, but all at the same time standing still as everything rushed around her overwhelmed her.


	2. Face to face

**●Love**LESS.○ -chapter 2 – Face to Face

It wasn't a rough landing, or a rough entry really. LoveLESS had been gingerly set on her feet, it was her own fault her knees collapsed in on themselves and she was now sitting on her folded up legs. She slid off her visor and rubbed her eyes with the palms her hands, half from the blinding white she found herself in, half from apprehension. Her heart pounded in her chest and she wanted to give herself some semblance of composure. Taking in and releasing a slow breath LoveLESS lowered her palms and looked up to see Neo.

Before her, at a respectable distance, stood a very tall humanoid digimon. Gangly, that's the first word that came to LoveLESS's mind. He had long thin legs and too long thing arms that nearly touched the floor. Belt buckle banded boots wrapped around his calves and were caped in metal and tipped with two long pointy spikes on each foot. A gold ornate plate covered each of his knees and a second set of belts wrapped around his upper thighs. His pants were black but he wore no shirt over his pale white – almost gray skin. Starting from just above is left hip and cascading upward to his left shoulder were red sphere embedded half way into is skin so they bulged outward. Brown leather straps wrapped half way up his forearms ending in golden tipped claws. On each forearm three red spikes on the upper half above the wrappings. Over his left shoulder was a small black shoulder guard and around his neck a black fitted wrap. Arching over his shoulders on both side were thin folded crimson wings whose size she could not guess. Thick, messy white hair traveled past his shoulders. Covering the entirety of his face was a golden mask with large golden horns extending from the side. Three pairs of dark red eyes looked over her from beneath the mask evaluating her as she did him.

"Frightened?" His voice was somehow only slightly muffled from behind the mask. It was a quiet voice that did not seem to fit its owner.

"Of you?" He nodded. As nonchalant as she could despite her still pounding heartbeat, Loveless asked "Should I be?"

The digimon cocked his head to the side, and peered at her. She lifted up her chin and stared back. She was not going to back down. If he wanted her dead he could have reached through her screen at any time and done so. Before he could respond LoveLESS added boldly, "Despite the fact that I have found myself to be your kidnap victim and am in unfamiliar surroundings, I am not afraid of you." Maybe to test her he took several steps toward her. She remained firm. "I have never met a digimon this close, much less talked with one. Does your kind often run around topless?"

He stopped again and peer at her from the side. A low chuckle came from beneath the mask. "Cheeky, and no. I just had the fortune of being coded without one and as you can see-" he waved his long arm around in a wide sweep of the stark white surroundings, "- I cannot go retrieve one even if I so desired to wear one."

The hacker too looked around the empty space. As her heartbeat began to clam she felt a twing of something – pity? "Is Neo you name then?"

"My name is NeoDevimon. If I had friend or acquaintances I would tell them I prefer to be called Neo."

LoveLESS crossed her arms across her chest and regarded him, her visor still clutched in her right hand. "Why the 2930? Is that some repeating line in your coding?"

Another low chuckle. "29 minutes and 30 seconds. That's how long it took me to trail you down once I decided I wanted to speak to you. Now that I know your ways it takes me less than a minute. But then again you knew that and didn't alter anything." His six eyes looked down at the small human from where he stood above her.

It was true, how impressed she had been that he had tracked her, and the ensuing exchange had convinced her not to alter anything that would hinder him tracking her again quickly if need be. "Yes, but also the faster you got to me the faster I could then attempt to get to you," She replied.

"A risky game you've played with me."

A thought struck LoveLESS. "Risky for me or you? If I had gotten back to you could I have accidentally killed you?" she questioned.

NeoDevimon looked away from her. He had actually never considered that it was that he had left himself so wide open to attack from the hacker. "Harm me maybe, kill me. . . "He paused then turned to face her again, "No. Digimon do not experience death like you creatures in the real world do. Our lives are an endless cycle of rebooting." As they continued to talk the nervousness Neo had first felt when she entered his space was dissipating. It seemed her curiosity trumped her discretion.

"Even if it was risky I had to do it. I need your help."

The hacker furrowed her brows. "Oh so this is a business thing." The digimon's head cocked to the side again, was she angry? She had since come to stand on her feet, hands perched on her hips. Her bare feet were planted in a wide defensive stance and she wore an earthy brown linen dress that flitted down to her knees. A sweet heart neck line and short capped sleeves finished off her look. Thick curly locks cascaded half way down her back and over her right shoulder. The top of her head could only have been as high half his chest. For such a tiny thing to have reaped so much mayhem . . .

"At first, yes I intended this to be all business but in our subsequent interactions I must admit you pull at my curiosity." LoveLESS brows unwrinkled. "Your skill with coding is amazing and to do so with no assistance from my kind. . . I have been in this place for many years and I have never come across another hacker like you." The ego boost cooled any anger the diminutive hacker felt. He continued, "I can hack you and others but I cannot hack through my prison. That's why I need you. I know you can free me and that you can do it in a way that my watchers aren't alerted."

"Your watchers?" A thought occurred to LoveLESS, "You're not some kind of digimon serial murder locked in solitary confinement are you?" The suggestion caused him another chuckle and he shook his head. "Then why the walls? You realize if you want me to help you you're going to have to be honest with me."

"I will be . . . as honest with you as I can. I am not a criminal, or a murderer. I have done no crime other than simply existing. Unlike other digimon who are created in the digital world through the ebb and flow of the data stream, I was created here by artificial human means."

"You were manufactured by a human?"

"In a way yes, I think the term customized would be more appropriate. My data wasn't developed from nothing. I assume by the name given to me my base code lies with a Devimon." Nervousness crept through him again and he ran a clawed hand through his hair. Never had he admitted so much of himself to another creature human or otherwise. "Why I was created and by whom I do not know. Only that for whatever reason they must have thought me. . ." He considered carefully his word choice and looked away, "inappropriate to live among my own kind."

The feeling of pity LoveLESS felt began to grow the more she talked with him. Unwanted, imprisoned, and all alone with no reason as to why. Maybe he did know why and if he was withholding the information she could hardly blame him. She wondered if he'd ever told his story, abridged as it was, to anyone before. Despite the lingering questions she felt she could trust him. She was far too curious about him to deny him any help. "Okay."

Neo looked up at her and found her honey colored eyes fixed on him. "You'll help me?" He breathed out the words. A smile curved at the corners at her mouth and she nodded. A feeling of exaltation began to rise within in him but he forced it down. Having her help and finally having his freedom were two separate things. Neo would not allow himself to get his hope and expectations up yet. Her smile faded as a realization came to her.

"I need my tablet. It has all my programs on it. Without it can't hack my way through a gmail account."

Neo reached his hand out and grasp at the thin air. A thin standard paper sized glassy tablet appeared in his hand and he walked toward LoveLESS. "I took the liberty of installing copies of all your programs on to this. It'll run faster than your human made device and it's stronger as well." He held out his clawed hand to her.

LoveLESS closed the remaining distance and took the gently clasped computer from him. It was feather light in her hands. The touch screen was glassy and responded instantly to her touch. Her smile grew. Curious, she flipped it over. The back side was all a solid color, a beautiful turquoise color. "Why blue?"

"It's the color I imagine the sky looks like. You don't like it?"

'What he imagines the sky to look like…? He's never seen it…' Sadness grew up from within her again. "It's beautiful, turquoise is my favorite color. Thank you." She tucked the device in the crock of her arm and slide on her visor. "When did you have time to steal my  
programs, how did you do it, and how did I not know?"

"If I told you that I'd have to give up all my secrets to you."

"And if you told me I would never get to muddle through it myself right?" she responded as she settled cross legged on the floor, the tablet perched on her knees.

"I wouldn't want to deprive you your curiosity," Neo said as he circled around in front of her, sitting as well his excitement at possible freedom rising again.

Coding filled her vision and she slid her fingers along the screen taking it all in. "Any pointers?"

"I cannot even access the coding. And even if I could and had something to tell you, you really wouldn't want to know would you?"

"No, takes away some of the fun. . ." the hacker admitted. "They've hidden it. Unless someone was looking they would never find this place, but . . .This coding is so simple. I guess that whoever put you here thought no one would bother with it." Code continued to scroll past her vision. "Okay, I'm in. Since we're in between both places right now, what happens when I delete the cell's wall coding?"

Neo shrugged. "I'm not really sure I-" his response was cut off as the walls, ceiling, and floor began to pixilated and dissolve revealing a criss-crossing flow of data.

LoveLESS quickly got to her feet clutching the tablet to her chest. "Oh, I didn't mean to do that, this code is very fragile . . . I can't stop it," she said as she backed away from a widening hole in the floor. Thump! She had backed right up into Neo. She looked up at him  
as a long arm snaked around her waist and held her to him.

"Hold on to me," he advised as he peered down at her. "We are going to fall and I'm not sure where we'll land." Just as LoveLESS wrapped an arm around the one encompassing her she felt her feet dangle and once again the sensation of moving fast, falling but staying still as  
everything rushed by filled her senses.

* * *

**A/N – **Next chapter starts their adventures into the digital world. Thanks for reading, if you have some time to spare toss me a review or some thoughts!


	3. The Dirt Basin

●**Love**LESS.○ - chapter 3 – The Dirt Basin

Everything seemed to fly around her and LoveLESS felt her stomach start to turn. She held tighter to Neo's arm and pressed her face against it. She willed her stomach contents to stay where they were and for this sensation to stop. Suddenly a weightlessness took hold of her, a light blinded her and the next thing she knew she was gazing hazily up at a clear blue sky. Translucent strips of data flirt in and out of sight as they strolled along the sky. LoveLESS continued to lay motionless on her back soaking it all in. "The digital world... " she said with bated breath as she slid off her visor. Slowly she pushed herself up. Neo, along with the tablet he had gifted her were nowhere in sight.

She had landed in a dusty heap at the base of a scraggly cliff. Brown sand-like cliffs and stone formations surrounded her but unlike the shapes the real world scenery took, stones shaped over time with wind and water, these formations had sharp right angles, curly sides and perfectly geometrical shapes cut into them. LoveLESS climbed to her feet and with dismat to remembered she was shoeless. Hanging her visor around the back of her neck she swiped off the dust from her bottom and began to walk around. Around a curve she spied her turquoise tablet. Fear of the crack in the screen she was sure to find crept into her mind as she walked over and picked it up. She found to her delight not even a scratch graced the touch screen. After a few more minutes of aimless walking, with several stops to pick out stones that lodged in her now very dirty feet, she discovered that she had landed in a small, completely enclosed ravine. "Wonderful. . . " she sighed to herself. A loud crunch of landing feet caught her attention. Thinking it had to be Neo she quickly turned around only to find it wasn't Neo.

* * *

Slowly, Neo opened his eyes and was greeted by the same clear blue sky, a sky whose color he's only seen from his screens. A breeze gently rustled his hair, a sensation he'd never experienced before. Joy he'd never known before began to build within him and he began to laugh. Laying flat on his back, the breeze tickling his scalp, and the much dreamed of blue sky above, Neo laughed with pure joy. The moments passed as he soaked in this new freedom. He hardly knew what to think or what to feel. Suddenly he stopped and sat up, quickly glancing around him. LoveLESS was not within sight. His joy began to become replaced by mild dread as he noticed his landing had been at the top of a perfectly square rock perched upon an impossibly skinny stone pillar. Had they both landed here and then the tiny hacker had tumbled off?

Quickly he was on his feet and peering down at the scenes below him, afraid what he might see. At the bottom of a ravine off to his right he spotted her; slightly dusty and looking annoyed but intact. She was not alone. While her back was turned a small creature jump down and landed with a thud. Even through his alarm Neo thought 'My kind takes the strangest forms.' The digimon was a few inches shy of being as tall as LoveLESS and it's body was the shape of a dark purple five-pointed star. Large gloved arms sprang from its sides and large booted legs sprang from below it with a brown leather cowboy set on its top point.

With quick silent movements Neo navigated down off his perch and into the ravine. As he landed he heard a crunch of metal on metal. The star digimon stumbled backward clutching at its face while LoveLESS advanced on it, her tablet raised up high. She had used it like a club! So focused what the spunky little hacker she failed to notice his arrival. Unable to help himself he began to laugh again at the scene. Both combatants turned toward him. The digimon's face registered panic but LoveLESS smiled at him and brandished the tablet again.

"You're right, this thing is way stronger than any tablet the real world's made. It survived that landing and this guys face." As she made her way over to him the digimon beat a hasty retreat, clambering up the stone face and out of sight.

"I'm glad to see you're alright. When I realized you weren't with me I began to worry. But I see you're prepared to take care of yourself hm?"

LoveLESS tucked the tablet under her arm. "I always have in the past, and I can still do it now in the present. Look-" She pointed up to the sky. "It is just like you imagined it would be?"

Neo looked up. "No," he said.

"No?"

"No, it's far better than I could have imagined. It's beautiful." The sincerity and joy in his voice gave LoveLESS a good feeling. She rarely did anything for anyone, she was mostly tied up in causing headaches. "Come see." Before she could respond Neo scooped up LoveLESS on his arm so she sat in the crook of his elbow and bounded out of the ravine. She flattened herself against him as they ascend up to the cliff's edge, her stomach it seemed had not completely settled from their trip here. "It's all beautiful isn't it?"

From her spot on his arm she looked around. It looked like they were middle of desolate no where. The same rock formations from the ravine littered the landscape along with more ravines and plateaus. "If you like spaghetti westerns, sunburn, and desolation it's nice." She then voiced the one thing Neo had never thought about. "Now what?"

His shoulders sagged and he honestly responded, "I don't know. I've been so obsessed on escape I never planned what I wanted to do once I had. I thought I'd jinx myself if I started planning for a future I might never have."

LoveLESS patted on his chest and motioned to the ground; meaning she would like to be put down. He looked down at her. "You have no shoes."

"Really? I hadn't noticed." She looked up at him with sarcasm plastered on her face. "I guess that explains why my feet are burning and bleeding."

"And you want me to set you down? Silly. You're a wisp of a thing I'll just carry you."

"Fine, then let me sit on your shoulder, I want to better view. Sitting down here on you arm I feel like a little tiny purse dog," she said as he gave her his other hand and helped her up to sit on his shoulder guard.

Continuing the conversation she asked, "Well what kind of things did you do in your purgatory-cell?"

As he responded Neo began to walk around, still relishing this world and his new freedom, "Hacking, rearranging code, causing headaches."

His walk was smooth and even and caused LoveLESS no discomfort from her seat on his shoulder. "Like what, you didn't need money or anything." She was honestly curious too. What would a digimon hacker think was fun to do.

"Rearranging doorways so the lead to walls, formatting doors to not open, recoding cakes so it looks and smells like fish heads but still tastes like cake, that kind of thing."

LoveLESS laughed, "those are the kind of things you do?"

"This world is nothing but data and I have a key for unlocking it. How can I not do things like that? I like to cause mischief and mayhem, not terror and destruction."

LoveLESS ran her fingers through her hair massaging her scalp and untangling her strands. Deciding to attempt to get some more information from her companion she said, "I assume that not all virus digimon can do that, I mean effect the digital world like that or this place would be nothing but chaos. Is that why you were hidden away?"

"Hm, I'm not sure really. It's possible I suppose. I know where we are I think."

"Ya, 50 miles from anything in all directions, right?"

Neo ignored her and came to a stop. "Give me your tablet please. I want to show you something."

The hacker obeyed and placed the thin machine into his outstretched hand. Grasping the tablet in one hand he gently touched one golden claw tip from the other hand to the screen. The screen flashed and scrolled coding and the tip of the claw seemed to slip into the screen. He handed the tablet back to LoveLESS. "Here, digital world GPS. We're in the middle of what they call the Dirt Basin. You're right though, there nothing around for miles fortunately a trailmon track runs right through here, we should be able to catch a ride."

"Aw, cool program! Is this something you made up yourself? Or did you steal it?" She asked as she examined the map. Indeed about 5 miles north was a train track that ran parallel from their current position. Stretching off to the right the tracks shot off of the land and kept going over the open water and into the main point of the digital/real world connection. A label that popped up as her finger hovered above it declared it as The Hub. The opposite way down the tracks showed the train weaving through several small settlements and into a wooded area.

"Stolen. Someone already had the financial foresight to develop and market the map. Walking to the track won't take too long, but trailmons aren't known to be punctual, depending on the mon. They can be a temperamental kind of digimon." Thinking about his own kind Neo asked, "Am I frightening to look at? That little digimon took off just at the sight of me."

"I dunno, you're unnerving based on height alone, maybe it's association. How are other Virus digimon thought of? The news keeps saying their being uncooperative with the real world and the other digimon."

"I think that is the general sentiment about my fellow virus type digimon I can't say from personal experience. Any virus digimon I've come across was doing awful hacking jobs with the help of a human. I mean awful, hacking away at the coding with a dull hatchet bad. I have no desire to associate with that."

LoveLESS giggled, "Wow, you're a regular elitist aren't you?"

Neo twisted his neck slightly and looked at her with three eyes. "Would you have associated with that?"

She scoffed, "Well of course not, but they aren't my kind. Besides I am an island on to myself."

He chuckled in response and started walking again. "An island? What are you doing here then."

"Me?" LoveLESS smiled. "I'm getting a free ride and presents from a kidnapper." He laughed in response to her. "Don't tell me how to do it, just if you think I can. Do you think I could manufacture some coding and give myself some shoes?"

"LoveLESS, while this world my resemble your world more then the screens of data and code you're used too, it can be manipulated just like the codes can. You could be able to do it the same way I carry out my mischief. Of course I'll say mum on how I do it. It would take away the fun right?"

"You remember I like my fun," LoveLESS replied with a smile still on her lips. Stretching her arms above her head she let out a yawn. "Before you snatched me away I was planning on curling up in my feather down comforter. How long do you think It'll take you to get to the trailmon?"

"Hm well, lets take a look and see if we can see the trailmon at all. Hold on to me." Before LoveLESS could manage to say 'how? Would I do that from up here?' they were airborne. Each beat of Neo's crimson red wings brought them higher. "There, it's coming from the ocean, from The Hub." Sure enough a yellow steam engine with five cars was heading down the tracks and out toward the other side of the Basin. "I think it's a Kettle trailmon." Readjusting to place a securing hand on LoveLESS Neo glided with the air current to intercept the yellow trailmon. As they neared the tracks Neo slowed farther and prepared to land on one of the compartments. "You know what's funny?"

Pushing her hair from her face and replied, "No but I feel like you're about to tell me."

"I've never flown before," He laughed. "No room in the cell."

"So I'm part of your maiden flown voyage?"

"Yes, you're part of history," Neo joked. As the kettle trailmon approached it saw the two hovering. Apparently jump-on were common in the digital world transportation as it didn't pay them much concern.

As it went beneath them it shouted out to them in a loud but nasally voice, "Last compartments empty! Pay when you hop off!"

"Thank you," Neo yelled back as the compartments thunder underneath them. With a soft thump he landed on the last car. Taking hold of LoveLESS with both hands he gently placed her on the slightly swaying rooftop, shielding her from the rushing wind with his body. On shaky legs LoveLESS made her way to the ladder to the end of the roof and climbed down. The compartment door swung open for her and she entered.

To her delight the last car was a sleeper car. A single corridor ran along the right side of the car with three doors leading off on the left to the rooms. The walls were wooded with wainscoting and painted a pale yellow. The nasally voice re-emerged from a speaker mounted on the wall. "Like I said all the rooms are open. I don't have a dinning car and the other cars are simple passenger cars."

Although the car was taller than a normal human train car, Neo still had to duck his head to avoid hitting the ceiling. "Can you tell me how long to the next town please?" Neo asked as he followed LoveLESS through the first door."

The voice now came from a speaker in their compartment. "The Dirt Basin is a big area. It's going to be five hours until we hit Line In The Dirt."

LoveLESS let out a small laugh, "I guess that it's so named because it's the cut off point for the Basin right?"

"It's a very practical name," buzzed the nasally speaker. "I'll alert all passengers when the stop is nearing."

Yawning again the hacker let down the lower bed. The compartment was wood-paneled with the same pale yellow color as the corridor. A large picture window covered the left side of the compartment. "I need to sleep," she said. "Do you need a bed? Cause I'd rather you be on the lower and forgo the possibility that these flimsy chains cannot support your weight and you come crashing down if you're on the top bed."

Neo settled with his back propped up against the wall opposite of the beds. "I'm too excited to sleep. Besides I need to make some financial arrangements for this ride and the next town."

"You mean steal some money?" LoveLESS said through a yawn.

"Judging me? You of all people. . . "

The hacker unfolded a stiff white sheet and fluffed the flattened pillow. "I didn't say anything, I was just clarifying. Elitist and touchy, huh?"

"Go to sleep."

"I am, you keep talking." LoveLESS settled under the sheet her back to the wall. She must have been more tired then she though because the gentle sway of the train quickly lulled LoveLESS to sleep.


	4. Line in the Dirt

●**Love**LESS.○ - chapter 4 – Line in the Dirt

"Attention all passengers!" LoveLESS woke with a start. Groaning and stretching she sat herself up as the Kettle trailmon continued. "We'll be nearing Line in the Dirt in ten minutes." She attempted in vain to straighten her hair. Neo still sat on the floor facing her, his legs crossed and arms resting on his knees.

"You have a nice nap?" he asked.

LoveLESS gave up on attempting to straighten her hair and quickly put it into a sideways braid instead. "I slept like the dead," she replied as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "You have a nice sit?"

"Fascinating sit," replied the digimon sarcastically. "I was thinking that going away from The Hub was the smart thing to do. This track leading out has only one rail, while many of the others have several for back and forth transporting."

LoveLESS sat on the edge of the bed and reached down to rub her blackened feet. "Why, you think people will be after you?"

"Someone locked me away, so I'm sure someone will be looking for me. Plus with all the squads around I'd like to be somewhere with a lesser population. Oh by the way," Neo pulled out a small shiny blue card from his pocket. "Made us a bank account while you were sleeping. The digital world doesn't have paper money, everything runs on credits from bank cards; paid our travel fees too."

"Ha nice," LoveLESS replied taking hold of the card to examine it then handing it back to Neo. She could not wait to make something physical from nothing from data, starting with some shoes. "I guess getting away from the squads is good for avoiding anyone messing with our fun too huh? I heard the squads are not all that organized though, like kind of hodged podged all over the place. I guess I don't know much about them actually."

The screech of the brakes and the lurch of the car let them know they were nearing the station. The two looked out the window. The Dirt Basin had reminded LoveLESS of a spaghetti western but this town looked like it had been lift from a John Wayne movie. As the trailmon started to enter the town it passed several small buildings made of dull looking wooden boards. Classic western-style raised wooden sidewalks lined the buildings and several buildings had over hanging roofs held up by wooden poles. With one final jolt the train came to a stop.

"Now arriving at Line in the Dirt Station!" Cried the nasally voice from the over head speakers. The two got to their feet and left the compartment the way they had entered, through the back. The station was nothing more than a platform with a handful of humans and digimon waiting to board the Kettle trailmon. LoveLESS cleared the gap between the car and the platform and watched the other travelers exit. Two digimon with their human partners and one digimon alone. The departing passengers and waiting passengers gave Neo a wide berth and quick glances.

"Virus digimon aren't around this part of the map much I guess. Things are very segregated in the digital world, that's why I'm getting so many looks," Neo explained and added, "I looked up some information while you were asleep. There's not much here really; a saloon, a hotel, a few stores and then some locals houses. We should get a room in the hotel, plan out the next course of action."

"Agreed, I have a lot of stuff to look up now that I've rested up. I know some things that are going on in this world but not nearly enough. Also, I want some shoes." Her last statement had a hint of a whine in it as she stared at her bare feet. The town was indeed small, it seemed it was just something that sprang up out of the needs of travelers on the rails. Without travelers it would probably never been settled. More Starmon populated the town but unlike the one who LoveLESS uppercut with her tablet they had a silver and gold sheen to their star-shaped body. Other common residents were several large walking cactuses in different shapes with boxing gloves and digimon with a pistols for bodies and cowboy hats on their heads. The breeze from the Dirt Basin carried dirt and sand all through out the town and LoveLESS suspected there wasn't one corner you wouldn't find sand in. The largest building in town was the two-story tall hotel which the two found easily. A large wooden billboard across the front of the building above the swinging saloon door read "The Dirt Nap Inn."

The two entered through the swing door and approached the desk. Behind, with its head on the desk, lay a sleeping digimon. It was small golden-colored digimon resembling an armadillo. And indeed a small framed plaque read "Hello, I'm Armadillomon! Please ring for service!" A thin trail of drool dripped from his snoring mouth and puddled on the registration book. The two exchanged looks and LoveLESS grinned before sliding the service bell close to the sleeping digimon's head and banging on the bells repeatedly.

The sleeping digimon was so startled he jumped up and slid out of his stool to the floor. Still dazed the little digimon scrambled back on to his stool. "Sorry little lady I guess I dozed off," he said as his tired eyes came into focus on LoveLESS. His eyes grew wide when he saw the large virus digimon standing behind her. "S-so a r-room then?" He stammered out.

LoveLESS folded her arms on the desk and leaned against it. "That would be fabulous. I don't know how many days but it doesn't look like you're all that cramped around here. By the way he's not going to eat out your soul or anything so relax." Picking a spot not covered with his drool she scrawled her and Neo's name on the registration book while the golden-colored digimon fumbled with room keys.

Armadillomon picked up a set of keys with the tag B2 on them and set them into Neo's outstretched hand. "My name's Armadillomon, please l-let me know if you need anything. Your room is up the stairs a-and on the left."

LoveLess just gave him a smile before turning to run up the stairs, eager to get started on some shoes. Neo gave the digimon a soft word of thanks before following LoveLESS's lead. The warbling voice of Armadillomon drifted up to them from the first floor, "Welcome to The Dirt Nap!"

The floor boards creaked and groaned as they made their way to their room. "Do you think it was wise to sign your hacker pen name?" Neo asked. "You do like to sign your work and now that you're in the digital world it's more likely that the authorities would try and track you since I'm sure you're going to be doing some more signed work." LoveLESS gave him a look and took the keys from Neo.

"But that's half the fun, the running away." She smiled. "Getting their attention then getting out from under their nose shows just how much better I am than them." She unlocked their door with a small bit of difficulty. The room was small with a large digimon sized bed against one wall, a large picture window overlooking the small dirt main street, and a dresser opposite the bed. A small sink sat next to the dresser; the hotel must have a shared bathroom. LoveLESS jumped on the bed and folded her legs underneath her while Neo walked over to the window to slid it open then sat down with his back propped up against the backboard of the bed to watch while LoveLESS puzzled her program out and doze lightly. Even sitting up against the backboard his feet nearly hung over the edge of the bed. Apparently this larger sized bed still wasn't large enough for Neo.

Excitedly she set her tablet on her knees, slid on her visor, and got to work fixing up a program for making items. Making an article of clothing should be a simple feat, not something complicated like the tablet Neo had crafted. The hacker flew through her program and produced the coding she thought would create a sheet of cotton cloth. Before her eyes coding began to appear in the air in front of her in a rectangular shape. Quickly the coding disappeared and the cloth began to appear. To her dismay it fell apart into threads in her hands. It would seem that more than using a hacker's skill, she would have to use a computer animators skills. She would have to program everything about the item she wanted to make right down to the thickness, texture, and stiffness; then use her hacking abilities to place the item into the digital space.

She frowned at the failure but felt more determined to get the coding right. Curious, she got up and snatched a white worn hand down from the towel rack on the sink and flopped back down on her stomach on the bed. She set the towel in front of her and crossed her ankles in the air. Her jump on the bed roused Neo from his semi-nap. He uncrossed his feet and stretched out his wings.

"Just take a nap," LoveLESS said. She had turned onto her side, and slipped her visor up so she could look back at him.

"I can't, or I'll get my sleep all turned around. Here in the digital world it's still five hours till night down."

LoveLESS arched an eyebrow. "Night down? You mean sunset?"

Neo shook his head and fixed his six eyes on her. "The digital world doesn't have a sunset. It goes from day to night and back again. You'll see soon."

LoveLESS rolled back on to her stomach and flipped the visor back into place. "Okay suit yourself." She got to work on the cloth wash towel in front of her. If she could hack into its coding she could build on it instead of having to start from scratch. The coding looked extensive but it was simplistic and LoveLESS soon was able to dye the cloth green, make it stiff like wood, and fluff out the fibers. She reverted the coding back to its original state then went about expanding its dimensions making it as large as a beach towel. Smiling to herself she reached out and touched the cloth, testing its durability. It all held together. She was ready to try to create her cotton cloth again. The coding appeared before her eyes in the shape of a small rectangle before dissipating and revealing a small cotton square. LoveLESS slid her visor up and reached out to pluck the cloth from the air. It held together and was the perfect texture. Each little thread was in place and it was flexible and light; just like she had coded.

Happy that she had gotten the hang of creating objects; LoveLESS then minimized her programs and opened up her web browser. Time to pick out what she wanted to wear. Since she needed shoes she figured she might as well just pick out a whole new outfit. Besides she wanted to test out her new skills. She typed in one of her favorite sites and began to pick out an outfit. She picked out a mustard yellow fitted dress that went to the knees with capped sleeves and flared out at the waist. A ribbon went around the waist tied into a bow in the front. It had a folded over collar and three buttons in the front. Despite her small stature that caused many girls to put on high heels; LoveLESS hated any kind of heel and for shoes she found a pair of light blue flats with shiny silver capped toes. To go under her dress she decided to pick out a pair of black leggings. She had grown tired of hauling her tablet around under her arm so she found a light brown leather bag with a large strap she could wear over the shoulder as well as a small handle so she could carry it like a brief case. It had two pockets on the outside and she thought she could put a large one on the inside to put the tablet. Since she was getting a new set of everything she also found some panties and bra she could base coding on.

She slid her visor back into place and began to weave her coding. With several trials and errors she produced a mirror image of the ginger dress tailored perfectly for her. She reached out and grasp the dress in her hands. As soon as she touched it the dress gave way to gravity and flopped over in her hands. It felt perfect, all the seams and buttons aligned and she felt the same rush of adrenaline she got from hacking accounts start to flood her blood stream. Each piece she made was easier and quicker than the one before it and soon her spoils surrounded her on the bedspread. She felt a tug on her ankle and looked back to see Neo pointing to the window.

She looked out and saw the night down starting. A straight light formed across the sky. On once side was the bright blue sky, the other the dark inky night. With the descent of the night line the air instantly began to cool and soon the whole world was covered in night.

"At every place in the world it's night now," Neo explained. "Unlike the real world, the digital world doesn't have time zones or anything like that since our world doesn't rotate around a sun. Oh by the way, you should wash your dirty feet before you put them into your nice new shoes."

LoveLESS had rolled onto her side again to look back at the digimon to give him a 'duh' look. Her serious face was negated by the rumble of her stomach. Neo had to chuckle at the girl and he climbed to his feet. "Go ahead and get all changed, I'm going to go get some food."

LoveLESS raised an eyebrow at him. "You sure that's a good idea? You saw the way the clerk looked at you. Fell out of his chair and stuttered like I don't even know what."

Neo shrugged and walked to the door, "Not going to change stereotypes by staying to myself. I don't know what they'll have here, anything you want or definitely don't want?"

"I don't eat meat, besides that I'm too hungry to care," LoveLESS replied as she stretched out her legs and arms. "It's been so busy today, I forgot I haven't eaten since before you kidnapped me from the real world."

Neo opened the door and looked back at the girl on the bed. "You're never going to let that go are you? Even though if I had the time and asked you politely you would have come willingly." The hacker balanced her chin on her hands and gave him a wide smile. Neo shook his head and with the mumbling of "cheeky girl..." he closed the door on her.

* * *

**A/N- **The next chapter is a little bit of a break from LoveLESS and Neo. I'm going to introduce some new main characters; squad members. I'm not really sure how long it'll be, it might run long because I'm going to explain a lot of the political and social aspect of the digital world as well as the map layout. FYI; the outfit she's wearing is based on real clothes you can find on modcloth. Her Dress is the Soda Fountain dress in ginger, her backpack is the Welcome Backback, and her shoes are Juniper Flats. I hope you enjoyed reading! Thanks for the reviews, leave me some comments.

Digimon in the chapter: aramdillomon, togamon, deputymon, starmon.


	5. The RDS

●**Love**LESS.○ - chapter 5 – The RDS

Still chuckling he rubbed his eyes with the back of his palms then ran his fingers through his thick black hair. The complete and utter failure of the attempted UN meeting playing on the multiple screens in front of him. He didn't necessarily take joy from the ridiculous failure but he couldn't deny it put a smile on his face.

"Oy, Jacob! You in there mate? Oh, you watching that train wreck again?" Jacob swung the chair around to the side to face the speaker. Walking into the room was Marcus; a tall well muscled man with a thick neck and broad shoulders. Despite his closely buzzed head he had thick mutton chops on either side of his cheeks. He smiled as he approached Jacob and settled into a chair next to him. Like always he was chewing on a wad a gum. A crooked smiled on his face he reached up to the the key board tapped the keys; replaying the video.

It was a raw footage from a newscast. The picture was resting on a well-groomed middle-aged women with perfectly sculpted hair. A crew member was in the frame helping adjust her cloths and make her camera ready. "Okay," The newswoman said to herself. She took in breath and put on a wide smile, waiting for a cue to begin.

"Elaine McMalory here at the newly constructed "Group Building" in The Hub designed specifically with the purpose of getting the different factions of digimon together along with the UN to help come to agreements regarding laws and regulations between the two worlds. Behind me you can see the group from the Vaccine digimon gathered together awaiting their time to take their spots at the meeting table." She motioned behind herself to a group of angel-type and holy digimon.

"To create a sense of unity, the Vaccine Faction has welcomed humans and their vaccine partners to join in the discussion. The Data Faction as also reportedly welcomed partnerships as well; although at this time we cannot confirm. Along with the Vaccine digimon and their guests you can see-," she pointed to a group of uniformed humans with digimons close at hand, "that security is very tight. The United Nations Digimon Squad, or UNDS, has enlisted the help of not only their own Digimon Squad but the Japanese Squad referred to as DDS or Digimon Data Squad which is considered the largest and most capable of the various enforcement agencies. "

She suddenly stopped her commentary, her hand going to her ear piece. She gave the off-screen crew an odd look.

"I'm getting some breaking news. The Virus Faction, who prefer to be known as the Demon Lords; whom had previously indicated they had no intention of making an appearance are arriving as I speak." Behind her was a flurry of activity as the DDS and UNDS were receiving the same information.

Marcus chuckled, "Look at that wanker Koji!" He pointed at the screen at a tall lanky Japanese man wearing a DDS uniform. He was clearly the leader as all the others were looking to him for guidance. He looked blank and you could see his mind trying to rework their plans and think on his feet. The large man slapped his knee and continued to bellow as they watched Koji and the other DDS scrambling to rearrange themselves.

The cameraman quickly wheeled to the right to catch the entrance of the Demon Lords. Three tall humanoid digimon strode in. One was cloaked from head to toe in red with horns peaking out from under his hood, the other had three pairs of red leather wings with a large beard the nearly scrapped the floor and hair that did the same. In his left hand he clutched a tall staff capped in a red orb. The last resembled a women with an elaborate pinned hairstyle holding up long jet-black hair and a long purple sleeved kimono that dragged on the ground. Following was a handful virus digimon full of claws, horns, and black fabric.

The news-lady attempted to keep her commentary going. "You can see here now that the Virus Faction is entering the building; completely disregarding the meetings carefully laid schedule as they are walking toward the meeting hall entrance. It looks as though they want to by-pass the other waiting group and entered first. This could prove problematic as the Virus and Vaccine factions are already at odds with on another and any small provocation as been known to cause brawls amongst the two groups." In a whispered voice one of the off-screen the crew member could be heard encouraging the cameraman to keep everything focused on two groups and not to miss anything.

"The air in the building has taken a turn- it feels ominous," the anchor said in a hushed tone. The squad members got between the two factions, which Koji approaching the Demon Lords. He had his hands held in a non-aggressive stance with his digimon partner a waddling alongside him. The digimon resembled a half hatched yellow chicken; the bottom of its little body still sitting in part of an egg-shell. Little legs sprouted from the shell and wrapped around its body was a purple sash holding a katana to its back.

"The leader of the DDS is approaching the Virus digimon, we can't quiet make out what is being said. The Vaccine digimon are approaching; the squad members are trying to keep them at bay. It looks like -oh!" Suddenly the fight was on. The news crew scrambled out-of-the-way as the digimon began to inter-mingle and all chaos broke out. The camera man tried to keep his picture on the scene unfolding before them but finally had to retreat the site and the feed went to static.

"I wonder why didn't all of them came barging in ya know?" Jacob mused out-loud. "Only Lilithmon, a cloaked up Daemon, Barbamon, and handful of Nightmare Soldiers showed up. They could have done a lot more damage and started an all out war if they wanted too."

The petty skirmish had ended in less then ten minutes, had destroyed a good portion of the entrance hall of the Group Building, and making their would-be rivals DDS look like idiots for not managing to plan for and prevent this incident. Marcus and Jacob were part of the RDS; Royal Digimon Squad. In fact, they were the only members of the RDS. A fact that made the two a laughing stock to the other larger and very well-funded squads; mainly the DDS. The two man crew were based in London and lived on site. Both men had been previously involved in different part of the British Armed Forces and Jacob held their skill as superb to these squads made-up of untrained kids. Their lack of funding prevented them for taking on more members.

The larger man shrugged and scratched his neck. "Maybe they didn't want to. They just wanted to shake things up." The clopping of large clawed feet reached their ears and grew louder. In the doorway stood a red dinosaur digimon with a small white and purple digimon riding on it's back. Two sets of large rabbit like ears that were white and banned with purple sat upon it's head. One pair high on it's head; the other low set and hanging low. As soon as it's eye landed on Marcus it's large eyes welled with tears and it reached out it's hands to him.

"Ah, little Lunamon! I left you alone for too long huh? Thanks for the ride Guilmon." The large man reached out and picked up the little digimon and set her on his head. The little digimon smiled and hugged Marcus's buzzed head. Marcus had a large personality to go along with his large frame and a loud booming laugh. On the other hand Lunamon was a quiet and timid digimon who hated to be apart from her partner. Although she was also attached to Jacob and his digimon; she was like Velcro when it came to Marcus.

"Jacob!" a voice croaked out from the red digimon. Guilmon walked over to Jacob a snaggle tooth smile on his face. Jacob and Guilmon were childhood partners having met when he was a boy of 11. More then partners, more then friends, they were bonded like brothers. He reached out and laid a hand on the digimon's leathery head in acknowledgment.

"By the way," Marcus said as he swung around in the chair with his back to the screens. "Don't think I didn't see you slink in a few mornings ago. Nice walk of shame mate."

Jacob scowled at his friend and co-worker and knew what was coming. "You're going to lecture me because you love me right?"

"I'm going to lecture you because I love you!" He looked down his crooked nose at his younger friend. "Stay away from that girl; you know she's no good. All she wants to do is use you and you've got enough trust and emotional shit going on to have to deal with that crazy bitch dragging you into her bed on a regular bases."

Jacob rolled his eyes and threw his head back to sigh. Marcus's lecture continued. "You may be a grown man who knows whats going on in his life but that doesn't mean you still don't need looking after. You need a nice little girl who can deal with all your antsy shit."

Jacob took control of the key board and brought up their monitoring screen. He absently mainly clicked around the screen while his friends voice went in one ear and out the other. From their different screens they carefully monitored all coming and goings of digimon and humans between the two worlds in Great Britain as well and data hacking and modifications in their "region of interest" in the digital world. Because there are many others squad around the world that were aligned with various areas of the digital world to help monitor for hacking activities and even though they were small they monitored a collection of small towns west of The Dirt Basin; Sea Side, Tree Top, and Line in the Dirt. Activity was low here because not many human bothered going west from The Hub and the other squad that official covered these areas conceded to the RDS because of their quickness and skill solving issues.

Completely ignoring the lecture Jacob asked nonchalantly, "So lunch?"

Marcus huffed out a sigh and Lunamoon followed in suit imitating him with a small puff of her own. "Ya. Lets 'jump-in' at Tree Top."

"What about Sea Side?"

"Man, I'm sick of seafood," Marcus replied. Sea Side and Tree Top both had "jump-in points"- places where the real and digital world allowed the exchange of people and digimon. Line in the Dirt did not have a jump-in but it's not like there was anything there to warrant one anyways. The two generally preferred to stay in their region. The purpose was two fold, to avoid other groups as well as make a presence for themselves.

Jacob silently nodded in agreement to Tree Top. The two slipped on their RDS jackets and put on their equipment. The two were always prepared, a trait from their time in the service, with Jacob slinging on a military looking shoulder bag to rest on his right hip and Marcus belted on a belted back to rest on his lower back. With a few taps on the keyboard and with their digivices at the ready the two made their jump.

* * *

**A/N –** Sorry if this seemed kind of slow; next chapter I hope to have the two groups meeting as a result of "fun" being had by Neo and LoveLESS. I just felt the need to set up some more of the universe of this fic. Sorry it's also kind of shorter then previous chapters. I already have some things written up for the next chapter, I plan on working on it while at work this weekend. Thanks for reading, let me know what you think!

Digimon: Angel-type digimon, Lilithmon, Barbamon, Deamon, Hyokomon (Koji's digimon), Guilmon (Jacbo's digimon), Lunamon (Marcus's digimon). All these are established digimon so if you're curious you can look them up for better sense of what they look like.

DDS- Based in Japan, Digimon Data Squad (In the Anime it's abbrevated as DATS)

RDS- Based in London England, Royal Digimon Squad

UNDS- United Nation Digimon Squad.


	6. Tree Top

●**Love**LESS.○ - chapter 6 – Tree Top

The hacker and the digimon had spread their wings and gotten into the mischievous spirit before they left Line in the Dirt. Neo demonstrated his brand of non-violent mayhem from where they could see it from their room window. Directly across from the hotel was the saloon. A respectable flow of townies and the occasional visitor streamed in and out. Dipping his claw into the thin air so that the tip seemed to vanish as though submerged in water, Neo glitched the swinging door together. The first victim was s Starmon local. He walked up to the doors with his arms extended and quickly found himself face planted into the now solid door-seam. LoveLESS ducked under the sill and giggled clapping her hands at the show. They passed another 15 minutes in this manner; laughing as patrons from inside and out bounced off the door and puzzled over it. Neo finally decided to reset the coding at the opportune moment when a Togamon was pushing full force on the door. The doors gave way and the spiky digimon tumbled into the pile of onlookers.

Having seen Neo manipulate the coding of the environment and still excited from her triumph with her self made clothes, LoveLESS was eager to have her own fun. She propped up her tablet on the window sill and started working the coding of neighboring buildings wooden walkways. Neo laid an elbow on the sill and rested his chin there while she got to work. Since she'd just spent many hours the previous day coding fabric and clothing she altered the stiffness of several planks, making them essentially strips of fabric that looked exactly like wood. It didn't take long for someone to fall prey to the fabric boards. A Deputymon walking toward the saloon placed on foot on the fabric boards and it ripped under his weight sending him toppling over face first, through the remaining fabric boards, and to the dirt below. Neo chuckled at the prank as the bewildered digimon climbed back onto the wooded sidewalk.

Scratching his head the gun shaped digimon wandered away and LoveLESS reset the coding back to wood and altered the coding a little way down the walk way in front of the digimon again. Again the wooden looking fabric gave way and the Deputymon tumbled through the fabric and to the dirt. Instead of the slow and bewildering climbing from the first fall, the digimon scrambled as fast as his little legs would carry him back onto the sidewalk. Hands at his hips like he intended to unholster his guns he swiveled around looking for a culprit. His eyes shot up to Neo at the window sill. Neo gave him a big wave and the Deputymon narrowed his eyes at the large horned digimon before jumping off the sidewalk and continuing on his way.

LoveLESS restored the boards coding again and turned to her companion. "I thought you didn't want to re-enforce stereotypes."

Neo shrugged in response and turned around to sit on the floor with his back propped up against the wall. "Would you rather he believe it was you?"

The girl stuck out her tongue at him. "No."

"Then I'll take a 'thank you' now."

She scoffed and pushed him playfully. "Thank you Mr. Kidnapper."

Neo shook his head slightly and sighed at the term kidnapper. Neo traced a square in the air with one golden claw and a semi-see through screen appeared as he finished the sides. Under his invisible direction the schedules of the Trailmons were displayed on the screen. "Looks like the next Trailmon going out of Line in the Dirt and away from the hub is supposed to be here in half an hour. Its a Raccoon dog Trailmon and some notes on here say it's usually early. If we miss it the next one heading away from the hub won't come through for 12 hours."

LoveLESS slid down to sit next to Neo with her back against the wall. "So you're saying we need to wrap up the fun for now and take it on the road."

"Yes, unless you'd rather stay. That Armadillomon at the desk said Friday nights are the most exciting night of the week. The Deputymon shoot off their guns into the air."

"At what?"

"Nothing, just shooting."

LoveLESS got to her feet and retrieved her tablet from the window and slid it into her shoulder bag. "Really sounds like the highlight of the week, I'll pass."

The two checked out of the hotel after must insistence by the bellhop to stay for the shooting, and made their way to the station. As they took a seat on the rickety plank benches, LoveLESS teased Neo about being to nice and attracting hanger-ons. The only other person to join them in the wait was Togamon which kept its distance. True to the notes on the Raccoon dog it was ten minutes early. There were only commuter cars on this Trailmon and the two companions picked a spot on the last car, much to the Togamon's relief.

The Raccoon Dog's voice came over the speakers in a fast blur, "Ok, that's everyone, ok, ok let's go go! Next stop Tree Top!" The door snapped shut and the two slid down the bench with the force of the Trailmon's start. It's pension for being early seemed less mysterious after hearing it ramble on. Neo stretched out his long legs to rest on the on the seats across from them as LoveLESS went in search of the bathroom.

LoveLESS smoothed down her skirt and admired herself in the small mirror of the Trailmon's bathroom. She had produced a black ribbon for herself and put her hair up high in a pony tail. Swaying slightly with the movement of the car she exited and returned to her seat next to Neo. The digimon sat staring at the passing scenery. They were headed to the next town over Tree Top. At the end of Line in the Dirt, there was literally a line in the dirt where the desert stopped and forest began. The scenery that flew by was a blur of green. They were surrounded by forest. Raccoon dog quickly blurted out that approximate travel time would be two and a half hours.

Neo passed the time enjoying the new view of green opposed to brown sand while LoveLESS set about modifying her bag's coding. Her ultimate goal was to create a bag of holding. While her bag would stay the same size on the outside, inside the space within would be much larger. While she found making it larger on the inside of not as hard as she thought it would be the altering the weight of the larger space to not be over-bearing was challenging for her and she failed to accomplish the proper coding before they reached their next destination.

"Ok, watch your step, have a nice day, welcome to Tree Top!" Raccoon dog bellowed as it slid open it's doors.

As LoveLESS stepped down from the Trailmon her head strained back and she gaped at town before her. Before her towered a massive tree with several smaller but still impressively large trees surrounding it. Platforms were built between branches atop which sat shops, residencies, and open public spaces. Steps were carved into the tree trunks and spiraled upward. Along with the platform buildings small circular houses hung from branches and small windows peaked out from the trunks indicating that they too where craved out to be shelters. Long wide swing bridges connected the various platforms and trees. Insect digimon buzzed around between the trees while a plethora of plant digimon milled around in the open air spaces. The smell of flowers lingered in the air and immediately hit the two travelers noses as they exited the Trailmon. Smiling LoveLESS looked over at Neo who too was taking in the town.

"This is my favorite town," LoveLESS declared.

"Hm, well you've only been to two towns so it had pretty good odds I'd say to begin with," Neo replied reasonably.

For the second time LoveLESS push on the digimon. "You jerk." LoveLESS laughed as the two walked forward and descended the platform. Traffic was certainly busier here as several groups of digimon and humans entered Raccoon dog as they exited. Again, looks were given to Neo as they passed. As they neared the trees the massive size of the trunks sunk in as well as the height of the stairs. She stared up then reached over and tugged on Neo's wrist. "You know how you can make-up for being a jerk?" She wore a telling smile.

"I thought you assaulting me twice made us even," Neo commented as he scooped up the human and sat her on his shoulder. With one powerful flurry of wings they were airborne. On LoveLESS's urging their ascent was slow so they could take in the sights of the trees. As they ascended higher and got closer to the trunks they could see that along with the stairs the trunks were adorned with strange carvings. It looked like a language to LoveLESS but it was nothing she could decipher off-hand. She could say confidently that this second flight was much more enjoyable than the first. Maybe the fact that her stomach wasn't still turning from a jump into the digital world helped it be a little bit more fun.

"It's our language," Neo explained when she asked about the carvings. "It's a mix of codings and human languages. It's very complicated but all digimon are born with the ability to read it."

Brushing her wind-swept hair from her face LoveLESS asked what it said. "I was created, not born," he stated simply. "Whoever made me thought illiteracy was acceptable so I'm still learning the writings. But something about harmony, nature, and the trees."

A group of small red insect digimon buzzed past them and LoveLESS held on to one of Neo's golden horns for support as they swept by and pulled down her dress with the other. Neo chuckled, "Maybe a dress wasn't such a good thing to make yourself with your traveling companion being a flier."

"Hey, I thought it through- that's why I made the leggings," LoveLESS responded. Neo landed on one of the suspended platforms. He knelt down and reached up a hand for her to hold onto and LoveLESS easily stepped onto his knee and then down to the wooden planks.

"Hey I still haven't' seen you eat, you were sneaky sneak and ate it while you gabbed it up with the armadillo." LoveLESS pulled out her tablet. She easily brought up page on Tree Top and the shops and cafes there. "This place is loaded with places to eat compared to Line, let's get some lunch."

Along with a GPS system Neo had installed several other established programs including a city by city app that gave all shops, restaurants, and buildings of interest as well as maps of the cities. She also had the Trailmon scheduling program that Neo had used earlier.

"Hm, there's a connection point to the real world here." She commented to herself and started walking motioning Neo to follow. "Come on, there's a little cafe just up on the next platform."

Neo followed closely behind her. "What's the name?"

* * *

"Apple Trunks again?" Jacob complained as he followed behind Marcus. The larger man looked over his shoulder at his dark-haired companion.

"You just want to complain today huh?"

"Complain!" Lunamon parroted cutely from one of his broad shoulders.

Gullimon clopped alongside his partner. "I like Apple Trunks they have good double hot pepper sandwiches!"

"Tsk. You'll eat Cajun peppers straight if I let you," said Jacob looking down at dinosaur digimon.

Marcus slowed down so Jacob walked along side him for easier conversation. "After what happened this morning I thought you'd be way more cheery mate." As they descended from the platform housing the jump-in point various townspeople waved and greeted them as they passed. "Did my lecture put a nail in your joy coffin?"

Gullimon looked up at Jacob but he did not respond. He knew that woman was an issue but he couldn't stop himself. He knew she was using him for her own devices and even though it bothered him he couldn't deny he was a willing partner. The most bothering thing about the arrangement to him was she was an UNDS member and the group as a whole was trying to crowd out the RDS and take over managing England. The fact that she constantly repeated how she could get him into the UN irritated him even more. Having his friend bring up the subject he liked to bury made him sour.

Marcus tried unsuccessfully to turn his friend's mood as they made their way to the cafe. The cafe encompassed the entirety of a small platform strung between two large branches. The seating was open to air with a wonderful view of the forest below. Still being cross Jacob sat down across from Marcus at a table near the edge with Guilmon clambering up on a chair next to him. A cheerful Lillymon floated over to them to give them menus and tell them the specials. Jacob was resting this chin on his hand, not really paying attention.

"Wow, look at the view here!"

A long strawberry colored pony-tailed girl glided into view, the speaker. His eyes locked on her and Jacob felt his heart pound as he stared at her. She wore a dress with tights and despite her short stature she wore flats. She had a bright smile on her face and she looked have genuine joy in her eyes. It was cute he thought. 'What the hell is wrong with me?' he silently chide himself and turned to face forward. Things like love at first sight and such nonsense were childish and he didn't abide to them. Besides didn't he have enough trouble with women as it was at the moment? Still facing forward he glanced out his peripheral to look at the girl again.

oblivious to the two men at the table she walked over to a table near the edge but on the far end of the platform. It was then that he noticed the digimon following her. He cursed to himself again. He was so involved in studying this girl he failed to notice the large virus digimon. He didn't like to profile but many of the issues they dealt with revolved around a human and their virus partner and as such it should be a partnering he should notice right away. He felt almost disappointed that the girl sat with her back to them which made him feel foolish.

"Oy, Jacob!"

Jacob sprang back to reality and looked up stupidly at Marcus. "What?"

Marcus raised an eyebrow at his friend then turned to the waitress. "Hell just have a cuppa too, thanks." Turning back in his chair he took a look at the pair behind them. To Jacob's mortification he wore an 'oh that's it' sort of grin when he turned to face forward again. Jacob groaned and buried his face in his hands. Guilmon leaned over to look too then covered his red muzzle with his claws to stifle a giggle.

Marcus laughed and gave Jacob a pat on the head, "Aw mate, you know I'll never let this go right? When I said you need a nice girl I didn't mean to get entranced by a girl with the giant virus digimon in tow. Kinds goes contrary to our business eh?"

A muffled groan was all he got in response. "Ugh, give me the laptop."

Marcus still had a grin on his face as he pulled out the laptop from his bag. "That's it, distract yourself with work."

* * *

"Hi welcome to the Apple Trunks Cafe, here are some menus. Can I get you anything to drink right away." A wary but still cheerful looking lilymon placed a menu in front of Neo and LoveLESS.

"I'll just have some water right now," LoveLESS said as she began to flip through the cafe menu.

"Same for me. Please, could you tell me who those two men are sitting across from us. I only ask out of curiosity because they look to have matching uniforms on."

"That's Jacob and Marcus from the RDS, Royal Digimon Squad. They monitor activities in this and a few other towns."

Neo leaned his chin on his elbow as he continued to address the fairy-type digimon. "I assume my dear by the cautionary look you're giving me that by 'activities' you mean the hacking sort of activities, correct?"

The waitress nodded. "Well I assure you I'm not here to cause you or anyone in town any trouble. So you need not feel uneasy around us."

The waitress's face flushed and she nodded once again before excusing herself to go get their drinks. "You suave little liar," LoveLESS said without looking up from her menu.

"It's not a lie. I'm not about to go hacking into coding with a two squat members sitting less then twenty feet from us."

LoveLESS peer at him from over the top of her menu. "Why not?"

Neo narrowed his eyes at her. "Little girl, you know not what you are getting into."

She put the menu down and smiled at him. "No, I don't. And I think it's the perfect opportunity to find out hm? We have the perfect chance to see what we're up against as far as law is concerned. Really, you've been locked in a box for your whole creation and you're not up for adventure and risk?"

Neo peered at her with his six eyes considering what she was saying. "Honestly the phrase let sleeping dogs lie is a load. Where's the fun in that? Half the game is the chase. Being able to best someone and know you're better then them."

She stopped speaking as the Lilymon approached with their glasses. They sent her away saying they needed more time. A smile began to curve onto her lips and she reached into her bag for her laptop and visor. She glanced back at the two men and their digimon who were busy drinking their fresh drinks. One of the men was large with his back to them and the other was concealed behind a laptop screen. Together with them at their table was a red dinosaur and a white and purple rabbit. Already she could feel the adrenaline being to flow at the prospect of some gaming.

"Don't you think you need some more practice before you go showing off in front of the law?" Neo questioned. "Besides I thought you were hungry. If we have to run we won't be able to eat for who knows how long."

LoveLESS pouted and sighed. "I guess that's a valid point, two valid points."

"Besides this is your favorite town I thought, you don't want to get run out already do you? We've only been here for like an hour."

If possible her pout intensified. "Valid point number three. Fine. We'll eat and hang out and then you'll help me get a better grip on in world hacking ok? Like faster hacking then I've been doing. I don't want to miss this opportunity for some gaming."

"You're asking for help? You really must want to best these guys huh? Wouldn't hurt to read up on them anyways. And stop pouting, you look ridiculous." He reached out a golden claw and tapped the girl on the nose.

She didn't respond but flashed him a smile as the waitress returned again to their table.

* * *

**A/N****- **Originally this chapter was going to include all of the hacking business and the confrontation as well, but it's getting so long I've decided to cut it in half. Hope you liked reading, leave me some fed back!


	7. Three Flowers' Cottage

●**Love**LESS○ - Chapter 7 - The Three Flower's Cottage

"I can't take it all the way off, just so you know."

LoveLESS had her cheek pressed against the tabletop and was peering up trying to get a glimpse at the underside of Neo's Mask. "Really? That sucks. Why? Is it like bolted to your face bones or something?"

Neo swallowed then slid the mask back into place. "I don't know, maybe it's a coding thing from whoever made me. I can only slid it up a few inches so that i can eat, that's it. I guess to you it seems inconvenient but it's my norm."

"Can I remove it? I mean cause you couldn't break your cell walls but I could, so could a human or another digimon remove it?"

Neo paused and did not answer right away. "I don't know, I'd rather you not try though. Sorry I feel. . . odd about it."

"You digimon sure have a lot of mask wearing types so maybe it's just an overall masked digimon sentiment not just a you're-weirdly-programed-thing." LoveLESS sat up and rested her chin on her hand while she took a sip from her straw. "Are they still sitting there?"

With a quick glance Neo replied, "Yes, the one with the laptop keeps looking over here probably because of me."

LoveLESS spun in her seat and set her legs up on the chair beside her; taking her glass, still sipping from it, and pretended to admire the scene before her. Really, she was watching the table with her peripheral vision.

Only the dark mass of hair from the laptop involved agent could be seen; he was completely consumed by whatever he was doing. The other man, a big larged broad backed man, and the two digimon were done with their meals and seemed to be waiting on the laptop user. She turned her attention to the scenery. the green canopy of the forest spread out before her and far away in the background lingered the sandy haze of The Basin. Several other platforms housing shops, cafes, and houses were visible below them.

Setting his utensils on his plate and nodding to the waitress, whose eyes still lingered on him, that they were ready to be cleared. Tap tap. LoveLESS fingertips tapped at the table top as she spun her tablet around, still facing out at the trees. In such surroundings, and definitely with such company around them, he could not produce his own air screen to hunt for information and they were looking things up with LoveLESS tablet.

"Seem like a small operation."

"Seems like they're hanging on," LoveLESS replied. "Tons of stuff on there about the UN guys wanting to move in and take over their area. Kinda weird that there's only two guys for all the UK."

"Looks like that's all they need. A lot of information about their skills and qualifications. That seems to be why they have the authority in three towns around here. Which means for you, that even if we lose this chance for you to have fun, they shouldn't be hard to find, or lure, if we stay in their monitored areas."

LoveLESS's eyes darted to Neo's and she chewed the end of her straw. "Good point, we don't even have to rush everything, let's go get a room and start with the lesson!" After they paid their tab with the waitress, Neo making sure to give her a nice tip, they quickly navigated to an impressive hotel called The Overlook. It was located lower in the town and built into one massive trunk with windows peeking out to take advantage of the view. There room was spacious with a large picture window with a window seat encompassing one entire wall. Unlike the Inn in Line in the Dirt it even had its own bathroom.

Once settled into their room they got to work on hacking. With Neo's help, they created several macros programs she could use with shortcuts to bring about quick mischief. Some were quick change texture and solidity programs and others were removal programs so they could remove doors, bricks, and windows in the flick of some keys. Her favorite program was a graffiti program that painted cursive script with moss on solid surfaces. Smiling she flopped down on the bed to stare at the ceiling. Their room was currently branded on the ceiling with her name in several different font types.

She rolled onto her side and took a bite of her grilled cheese sandwich. Their little lesson session had rolled on into another meal time and they had gotten room service from the grand hotels restaurant. She was currently working on duplication of food. So far she was making little progress and she decided it was time for a break. LoveLESS got food to look like food, but taste like styrofoam with the texture of jello. Gag inducing. All things considered, while not benefiting to their travels, it would make a nice prank, so she didn't consult Neo on this particular hack.

* * *

As the girl strolled away with her digimon in tow, Jacob finally let out the breath he never knew he'd been holding and relaxed into his chair. From the other side of the laptop screen he saw Lunamon's begin to peek over. She had mischief in her eyes and she quickly glanced at Marcus who was also grinning and giggled at Jacob. He took looked at Marcus, then at Gullimon, then back at Lunamon. Each one he gave a deep scowl to. "Shut the hell up, the lot of you."

"Mate, I didn't say anything," Marcus said with a broad grin. He reached over and slid the laptop over to him. "Now that you're not wasting time on the computer, attempting to sneak peeks at ponytail and leather-bound, let us do some actual business." With some quick taps of the keyboard he brought up their inbox where people of the towns they monitored would send them messages with complaints or observations. They also could monitor for alterations in data but it was often easier to have the digimon keep their eyes open for them.

"Hey, we got some notes for Line in the Dirt." Jacob, who had been slouched back in his chair sat up and snatched the laptop back. Four different messages were posted in the inbox from the inhabitants of Line in the Dirt. Complaints of pranks; floor boards causing digimon to fall through them and doors sealed shut as though nailed closed. As he read the complaints aloud Gullimon and Marcus were laughing while Lunamon pouted at the 'meanness' of such pranks. He snapped the laptop closed.

"Okay, I guess we get to take a trail ride, sort all this nonsense out," he mumbled to himself as he climbed to his feet. Marcus groaned as he settled the bill. They arrived at the platform just in time to hop the train. It was a very long train ride as the strawberry blonde refused to leave Jacob's head as he gazed at the passing scenery.

They stopped in at the Saloon in question and talked to the patrons to get the more details on the hacking incident. As Jacob walked along the wooden walkway his gaze went to the Inn across the street.

"We've never seen something like this so I'm sure whoever did this is someone new, someone who breezed through town. We should check their guest book," Jacob said as Marcus came to stand at his side.

Gullimon clomped up beside his partner and pulled at his sleeve. "Well if they were breezing through wouldn't that mean they were heading to the next town?"

"Ya but which way did they go on the rails?" Marcus asked to the group.

Jacob started across the street at a quick pace with the other following behind. "Well let's check out the Inn at least and get some more information," he called behind him.

A cheerful Armadillomon greeted them with a smile. "Hey guys! Are you staying in town tonight? The shoot off is going to start at sundown, you need a room?"

"No such luck mate, we're here on business. I'm sure you heard about the pranking that went on?" Marcus asked as they approached the desk.

Confirming that he did, he happily opened up his guestbook and showed him the signature of his last two guests. Neo and LoveLESS.

"Very nice guests! Very enjoyable." With the prompting of the agents he began to describe them. "Oh LoveLESS was this short little woman with strawberry blonde hair-" At the description Jacob straightened and exchanged looks with Marcus. "And Neo was a big tall virus digimon with a golden mask and golden claws. He looked quick frightening but he was ever the gentlemen, very nice mon." They bid him thanks and quickly exited the Inn.

"Well," Marcus said as he pulled out the laptop. "I guess we know where they were headed, time to hop back to the office then jump in at Tree Top again." Because they worked for a regulatory agency, they were allowed have programs that allowed jump backs to their office from any place in the digital world. Very handy for the busy agents. The two men and their two digimon quickly jumped through the laptop, having given Armodillomon instructions to send it to them CO The Overlook in Tree Top so they could pick it up, then jumped back into Tree top.

As soon as their feet hit the ground, Jacob pulled out another laptop and brought up their data programs to search for any hacking activities. "Oh ya, heavy activity over at The Overlook." snapping the laptop closed he led the way down the platforms and do the hotel.

Marcus followed behind him and chuckled. "You all worked up because it's our job or because you'll have an excuse to talk to the girl you basically stalked at the cafe?"

Jacob glanced back to give him a death stare as he pushed his way into the hotel. After confirming with the bell hop and getting their room number they started up the stairs to their third floor room. Flanked with Marcus with Lunamon on his shoulder on one side and Gullimon on the other side he knocked loudly on the door.

"RDS, open up!"

After a pause a response came through the door. "It's unlocked!"

Jacob grasp the knob, twisted, and pushed only to find himself face planted into the door. It wouldn't move. Irritation began to grow, especially when the giggle could be heard from the other side of the door. He angrily banged on the door once more.

"Oh, is the lock sticking? I don't know what to tell you, sounds like something to see the management for."

Marcus laughed and slapped Jacob on the back. "Last chance, or we're busting in the door." All he got in response was another giggle. Suddenly his foot fell through the floor and he found his whole leg had fallen through the now nonexistent floorboard he stood on. Marcus reached down and hauled up the smaller man. Jacob face began to color and he looked down to Gullimon. "Bust it down."

Marcus and Jacob backed up as Gullimon launched a fireball into the sealed door exploding it into the room. The occupants coughed as the agents slipped into the room. charred splintered pieces of wood littered the room. Kneeling on the bed was the strawberry blonde, LoveLESS, fanning the smoke from her face. Standing near the window was the tall virus digimon who was wiping dust off his chest.

"Property damage!" she choked out through coughs.

"Games over with all this bullshit!" Jacob yelled. "We're charging you with tampering with data, harassment, and hacking." He checked off the items on his fingers as he said them.

LoveLESS was not at all concerned at their entrance or the charges lobed at her. She soothed the dust from her dress and climbed off the bed. "Harassment?" she asked innocently.

Jacob fumed. "Yes, harassment of the citizens of Line in the Dirt and harassment of me with all your little tricks."

"It's okay to feel foolish, the one getting tricked always does." LoveLESS said as she slung her bag over her shoulder. "I have one more trick for guys who trashed my door."

Jacob wore a scowl. "What's that then?"

"This." With a quick glide of her fingertips on the tablet screen the large window vanished. LoveLESS turned around and grasp around Neo's neck.

Neo burst through the empty window frame with LoveLESS cradled against his chest. With on powerful pump of his crimson wings they were already 60 feet away from the building and soaring over the green canopy away from Tree Tops. LoveLESS hair was torn from it's ponytail and streamed out behind Neo. As the town recently receded in the background she cast one last look at the pair of agents. The larger man was bowled over laughing, the other looked beyond annoyed.

Slowly Neo descended to the canopy top, fanning out his wings to slow his momentum. He misjudged the severity of the situation, as they were not being chased, and the sped of his flight and instead of gliding through the limbs to the ground below he crashed through the limbs. He drew in his legs to shield LoveLESS as best as he could as he attempted to slow their crash. BAM! With one last crack of limbs they landed on the cool mossy floor. Leaves fluttered down around them and the smell of wet earth and fresh rain filled the air.

Neo's wings were bent and broken and he let out a groan as he unfolded his limbs. LoveLess sat at his side assessing the damage. In the fall her tablet had disappeared having been knocked from her grasp. Various lacerations covered his arms and legs but they were nothing when compared to those poor wings of his. As she brushed her hair from her face she found she was covered in sticky liquid, as well Neo.

"Hey!"

Both heads spun around to see three large angry-looking insect digimon advancing on them. A large gray with red marking insect digimon, the speaker, led the pack. On one side was an equally big red six limbed insect digimon with a large horn and the other a green humanoid insect with a large red tipped lance over his red shoulder.

"Eh! i'm talkin' to you, what's the big deal here busting up our party eh?" the large gray insect yelled.

Neo held out a pacifying claw. "I'm sorry I don't know what you are referring too. We kind of crashed, I didn't-"

The leader looked to his left and right followers shaking his head. "Oh, ya rights we'd believe that won't be bros? Just happened to fall out the sky right through our nectar batch, fuckin' right."

The red digimon spoke next. "Ya like we'd believe that right big brother okuwamon, we ain't saps. Right little brother?"

The green digimon met his brothers beady gazes. "Ya right megakabuterimon, I don't believe none of that crap." He brought his lance from his shoulder to rest in front of him in his hands, showing that it was that much closer to being in use. He seemed to lack the conviction in his voice that his brothers had.

The oldest, Okuwamon, slapped the youngest on the back, urging him forward. "Get at 'im Jewelbeemon!"

As Jewelbeemon approached him with his brothers in tow Neo had one concern in his mind, protecting LoveLESS. The only thing that came to mind was to toss her and hope that any landing would do less damage than rampaging digimon and that she could toss her far enough. He grabbed her with one golden claw and went to toss her only, when he thrust out his arm it disappeared. His arm was only visible up until his elbow, a faint electric discharge surrounding the area. To his amazement 50 feet away his lower arm along with LoveLESS clutched in his claw appeared, right where he was wish he could toss her. He had no time to ponder this as the youngest brother of the digimon launched at him.

Jewelbeemon slashed out with his lance. Neo rolled out-of-the-way and clambered to a kneeling position where he lashed out with his claw, "Stun Claw!", nailing the green digimon in the side and sending him flying several feet where he lay sprawled on the mossy ground apparently successfully stunned.

Enraged that this interloper would actually attempt to defend himself, the brothers launch out in a rage. Big brother came at him first attempting to catch him in his pincher claws. "Double Scissor Claw!"

Neo managed to escape his grasp only to be hit completely unprotected by the middle brother's attack. "Horn buster!" Bam! An electric blast of energy hit Neo square in the chest and launched him backward into the trunk of a large oak, cracking it. Groaning Neo hopped to his feet, adrenaline now flowing freely and launched a retaliatory attack at the middle brother. Ducking low he maneuvered around the large bulky brothers and launched out his claw at the middle brothers unprotected flank. "Guilty claw!" This sent the red digimon in a thick grove of underbrush to the sound of cracking limbs and crushed foliage.

By this time the youngest was back on his feet and he swung out an armored forearm at Neo nailing him against his entire right side and sending him flying in another direction. This time Neo was not quick enough in his recovery and got nailed right into the oldest brothers scissor attack. He let out a scream as his midsection was given a painful crush and raked at the brothers eyes with his golden claws to try and loosen his grip. Okuwamon cried out, raise Neo above his head and tossed him like a sack of potatoes.

Breath and blood flew from his mouth and the crimson liquid dripped down the bottom of his golden mask as his back slammed back into the ground. His wings were now blissfully numb but the pain was replaced by stabbing pain in his side from what must have been broken ribs and throbbing in his lower right wrist where it was twisted in an unnatural way.

"Hey! Y'all better knock that off!"

Neo strained his neck to the right to see a small fairy-winged digimon glide into view, her arms spread wide, floating between Neo and the imposing digimon. LoveLESS stumbled into view from behind a trunk and ran to his side while the digimon were held at bay. By the look on her face, his injuries must have looked even worse than they felt.

"It'll be ok right? I mean you guys heal up fast, like devolve and revolve and you're fine right?" The words were rushed out as she surveyed the damage.

Neo choked out a pained laugh and closed his eyes. "If... If I were a normal digimon, yes."

"And you're not, ugh..." As the two talked, the new comer scolded the insect digimons in a shrill commanding voice and sent them off before coming to rest at Neo's other side. Even though they were shooed off the group could be heard complaining loudly about the whole situation.

"Are you the waitress from the cafe?"

Neo cracked open his middle set of eyes to see it was indeed the little fairy digimon Lilymon. Concern was clear in her eyes as she too took in the damage. "Why aren't you healing?"

"I am healing..." Neo said through a pained voice. "I cannot devolve and revolve. Normally if a digimon is hurt severely they return to their original egg state. I don't have an egg state, I don't even have any devolution stages and not a mega level evolution. . . I was created not 'born' in the digital world sense..."After his explanation he closed his eyes again and relaxed against the cool but now blood spattered forest floor.

"What does that mean if you were to be fatally wounded?" LoveLESS asked.

"Heh, well it would be fatal wouldn't it? I suffer from the fate of all you humans, mortality. I will heal, am healing right now but I don't heal as fast as a normal digimon..."

"Okay, okay, stop talking. It sounds like each words you say is further shredding your trachea." LoveLESS said as she rested a hand on his arm. She turned to address Lilymon. "Thank you, thank you so much..."

Lilymon turned from the wreck that was Neo and gave LoveLESS a small smile. "I'm sorry you had to deal with that. Their called the bug brothers and they like to be jerks, especially the eldest is very aggressive. Because we all live here together in his area of the forest so we try to be civil and keep the peace. We have set boundaries for them and talked to them about their tempers but I guess..." she glanced at Neo. "They need more scolding..."

"We?"

"Oh, me and my sisters, Rose and Orchid. We live in a cottage just at the edge of this grove of trees. I was on my way home when I luckily came across you two." She tentatively touched Neo's other arm. "I can't leave you here, you two need to come to the cottage."

Neo shook his head slightly. "No, I said I'll heal. Just let us know where I can lay and bleed so as not to upset the bugs and we'll be fine. You've done so much already." Grunting with the effort and with one girl on each side he pushed himself to a standing position.

"You're kidding right? We'll gratefully accept. Please pardon any blood we get on your floor." LoveLESS said with forced sarcasm. Lily could see the concern that blanketed her face.

"So stubborn," she murmured. "Besides, I have to take care of my ample tippers if I'm going to make a living huh?" Lily joked as she slipped an arm around Neo's back. Her attempt to lighten the mood garnished a small chuckle from Neo.

Slowly and carefully the two helped Neo stumble his way out of the cluster of trees. A small thatched cottage unfolded into view. Unlike a typical fairytale cottage it was narrow and three stories tall with several balconies and large open doors. The stories were stacked lopsidedly like tiers on a wedding cake and got progressively smaller as they rose from the ground. Flowers grew in clusters from the various roofs and a sign above the large entrance door declared the cottage to be "Three Flower's Cottage." Lily called out to her sisters and two lillymon fluttered out from the second story balcony. All though all the digimons were identical one had a rose tucked in her hair and the other an orchid. Their mouths dropped open and Rose covered her mouth in shock. Without even demanding an explanation they rushed to Lily and Love's side and helped them get Neo into their cottage where he promptly collapsed on his stomach in their first story guest bed. As LoveLESS attended to Neo Lily explained things to her sisters.

LoveLESS bunched up a pillow and eased it under Neo's chin so he could be comfortable, his horns made it impossible to for his head to rest on it's side. Neo let out a relieved sigh and relaxed into mattress. Gingerly she lifted up his forearm and examined his twisted and disfigured wrist. "Do I need to set this? Do you even know how much help you need to heal?"

With his eyes still closed Neo replied. "I don't really know. I just know I'll heal faster than a human would. I don't think cleaning the wounds, putting bones back into place, and re-aligning things would hinder my healing." LoveLESS cringed at the imagery as the sisters re-entered the room. Rose was close to weeping at the sight of the battered Neo, Orchid looked livid and ready to fight the bugs, and Lily was the picture of calm and went to sit next to Love.

Gently she patted his shoulder and smiled. "We'll clean you up, get you on the right track to healing."

Neo eyes met Lily and tired and worn as he was, you got the feel we was grinning under the golden metal. "I tipped you well to be nice, but looks like you're really going to earn it huh?"

Lily giggle and blushed. Quickly the girls got things together and helped clean his wounds and Orchid realigned his wrist to the near vomiting of the other girls. Rose quickly set it while Orchid turned her attention to the bones of his wings; forcing things into place. Neo bore the rough treatments well enough, letting only the occasional groan out as he gripped the bedspread beneath him with his uninjured hand. Lily mixed up a salve with different flowers and plants and she and Love slathered the tattered remains of his wings membranes.

Sighing, Neo quickly fell asleep after the cares; a mix of exhaustion and pain overcoming him. The girls retreated from the room into the living room where LoveLESS collapsed into a large arm chair. She ran her hand shakily through her wind whipped hair. Tiredness started to overtake her and she felt shaky. Suddenly she jumped up, her tablet! It was still somewhere on the forest floor. Lily approached her and pushed her gently but firmly back into the chair and knelt before her and offered her a gentle smile. The fairy digimon reassured her that they'd find her computer for her and not to worry. She took LoveLESS's hands in her own and gave them a squeeze of reassurance. Knowing she wouldn't want to be far Neo, Lily and her sisters furnished her with a pillow and blanket and she quickly curled up in the armchair and fell asleep.

* * *

**A/N -** This chapter came in spurts, one part written, another part written, then woven together. Hence why it's so long. I could have flushed out more part of the story, but like I said it was already getting so long I decided not too. I already have a piece written for the next chapter as well that i have to work my self down too. Sorry it's been a little bit! Lots of working, I'm hoping to at least do a chapter a month. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, let me know what you think! Would you have liked me to flesh out some more of this chapter or was it long enough lol.

New digimon in this chapter - Bug brothers (order of age) Okuwamon, Megakabuterimon, and Jewelbeemon. Flower sisters (all lillymon) Rose, Lily, and Orchid.


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